This game was the match of the tournament so far and one of the best hockey games I’ve ever seen. Canada came back from being down 3-2 with just under five minutes to go in the game, off a perfect deflection from Nick Suzuki, which forced the game into overtime.
Mitch Marner ended the game and sent Canada to the semifinals in overtime off one of the best backhand shots I’ve seen. Here are takeaways from today’s game.
Canada’s Depth Finally Comes Through
Throughout the first three games of the tournament, all the talk was around Canada’s top players. When you’re able to ice Connor McDavid, Nathan MacKinnon, Macklin Celebrini and Sidney Crosby on the same team, that’ll happen.
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They were also the players who were producing the most, with McDavid recording 10 points in 10 periods at one point. On top of that, Celebrini is leading the tournament in goals at just 19.
Although the top players leading the way were working hard in the first three games, I was very disappointed in players like Brandon Hagel, Suzuki, and Sam Reinhart, who were completely invisible.
When there were just under five minutes left in the game, and Crosby was out of the game hurt, Canada couldn’t get anything going outside of the MacKinnon – McDavid – Celebrini line. With the game looking bleak, Suzuki stepped up and deflected a shot from Devon Toews.
Then, in overtime, a guy who I thought had played well this tournament but was very quiet today, in Marner, won it for Canada.
Both Teams’ Goaltending Comes Through
I want to start by talking about Czechia’s goaltender, Lukas Dostal. All devoted hockey fans knew who he was throughout the last two NHL seasons, but anyone who might be more of a casual fan might not have been aware of him.
The Anaheim Ducks goaltender is fantastic, and as I said on The Hockey Writers YouTube, the thing that made me nervous about this matchup was whether Dostal played at his best. That is exactly what he did today, and for a while there, it looked like he was going to carry them to a win. The Ducks and Czechia have a stud in between the pipes for the present and future.
Now it’s time to give Jordan Binnington credit, which it seems like some media members are struggling to do. The stat sheet won’t be pretty after this game for him, allowing three goals on 24 shots, but if you were able to watch the game, you’d know he was solid.
The three goals weren’t his fault, and he made multiple big stops down the stretch to keep it at a one-goal game or tied. That includes a breakaway save on Martin Necas with just a minute left in the third period. Not only did he make the breakaway save, but he made the rebound save immediately after, too.
The stats aren’t pretty, but I’m not sure what else people want him to do. Should he stop the bar-down one-timer from David Pastrnak? Maybe the tap-in right in front of the net for the uncovered Lukas Sedlak? Or maybe he could’ve stopped Ondrej Palat’s shot on the rush after he walked from the top of the circles to the hashmarks all alone?
We very well could see St. Louis Blues’ Binnington in this tournament, and if that’s the case, Canada won’t win gold. Until then, I don’t understand the criticism.
Some Stuff to Be Nervous About for Canada
Although the game was fantastic, it was far from perfect for Canada. They continue to struggle in the first period and trailed after the opening 20 minutes.
When Canada went down 2-1 in the first period, it was the first time they trailed in Olympic best-on-best hockey since 2010 in the round robin against Team USA. That was 805:01 of in-game minutes.
They were careless with the puck at times, and it was highlighted by Mark Stone’s terrible attempt at a saucer pass through the middle of the neutral zone. That pass was intercepted, and it was a fire drill for Canada. They couldn’t recover, and Czechia tied the game back up.
The carelessness with the puck continued throughout the game and needs to be cleaned up if they’re going to win gold.
Another area of concern is the status of Crosby. He left the game in the second period with an apparent knee injury, and there has been no update on his status going forward.
Hats off to Czechia
Although a lot of the talk will surround Canada, Czechia played an unbelievably gutsy game today and just fell short.
Heading into the game today, I thought Czechia would keep it close early, and Canada would pull away in the third period. The fact that Czechia had to play back-to-back was such a disadvantage, especially because they needed to play a tight game against Denmark the day before.
I thought they lost their legs a little bit near the end of the second period, but they came out flying to start the third period.
While they should be proud of their game, there are some things that’ll make them kick themselves. Obviously, having a lead that late in the third period and still losing it will be tough to swallow, but the thing that really stood out to me was the opportunities they generated.
David Kampf missed an empty net in the first, and they had several other grade-A opportunities that they didn’t capitalize on. When you play a team like Canada, you have to bury any opportunity you get, and they had some late. This includes the Necas breakaway with a minute left and a really good chance at the start of overtime that Binnington turned aside.
Horrendous Officiating
This game was fantastic, as I said, and I hate talking about officiating, but it’s impossible to ignore how bad the officiating was today.
There were questionable calls and non-calls that benefited and hurt both teams today. First of all, even as a Canadian, I can’t believe how soft the interference call on Michal Kempny was that sent Canada to the power play, which they tied the game on.
Toews also slashed Necas on the hands during the breakaway right before the end of regulation, which went uncalled.
There were also missed calls that hurt Canada, including Crosby being blown up by Palat at centre ice, with the puck not being anywhere near the two of them.
Then there was one of the most shocking and egregious things I’ve seen a group of officials miss, which came on the 3-2 go-ahead goal for Czechia. Somehow, Czechia played a shift in the defensive zone, blocked a shot, and scored in transition with six players on the ice.
To make matters even worse, all six Czech players were in the huddle after the goal, celebrating. If Canada lost this game, this would’ve been one of the biggest missed call controversies we’ve seen.
